Highly doubly excited states of the helium atom and the effects of nearresonant driving

• Applicant: Dr. Javier Madronero
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2008 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 58386392

Despite the seeming simplicity of the problem of three charged particles with known interactions, we are still far from having a comprehensive knowledge of the general structure of the energy spectrum and of the complete breakup of two-electron atoms. The aim of this project is to advance our understanding of the regime highly doubly excited states and their interaction with light. We focus our attention on the signatures of the underlying classical mixed regular-chaotic dynamics that are expected to become observable in the spectrum close to the break-up-threshold of two-electron atoms, and on the electronic correlations that manifest under the action of an electromagnetic field, e.g., in two-photon ionization processes, or in the formation of two-electron nondispersive wave packets. The understanding of this issues defines, however, a formidable theoretical and numerical challenge which is faced with the help of sophisticated approaches. These combine appropriate representations of the atomic Hamiltonian with large scale numerical calculations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants